As the hosts from the Championship, Southampton take on Premier League leaders Arsenal in the FA Cup Quarter-Final there are ominous warnings but also glimmers of hope from previous history for the Saints fans.
The history of these two iconic clubs in football’s oldest cup competition is packed with drama.
A look back at their most recent previous meetings in the competition shows interesting similarities to this weekend’s mouth-watering clash.
The Saints team in 2003. (Image: Echo)
For many Southampton fans, the 2003 FA Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium remains the most painful memory of this fixture.
Gordon Strachan’s brave Saints took to the field as underdogs against Arsène Wenger’s Gunners.
Despite an enormous physical effort, and some nearly moments of their own, a first-half strike from Robert Pires was ultimately enough to earn the North Londoners a 1-0 win.
Just like in 2003, Arsenal arrive as a juggernaut.
Mikel Arteta’s current crop sit comfortably at the zenith of the Premier League, bursting with world-class talent and in pursuit of a treble.
Southampton once again enter the tie as underdogs looking to derail a behemoth.
They require every ounce of their grit, tactical meticulousness and unpredictability of the cup to make up for the obvious disparity in squad depth.
If 2003 was done in heartbreaking fashion, January 2021 is the perfect blueprint for how to get it right.
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In the Fourth Round of the FA Cup, Southampton hosted Arteta’s Arsenal — who were, at the time, the cup holders — at an empty St. Mary’s, thanks to pandemic restrictions.
Saints produced a superb display of high-energy pressing and defensive diligence as a deflected Kyle Walker-Peters cross flew off Gabriel and into the net for a decisive own goal that sealed a well-earned 1-0 success and knocked out the holders.
The 2021 victory showed Arsenal are anything but invincible on the South Coast; indeed, St Mary’s has often been something of a bogey ground for the Gunners in the 21st century.
And while the 2021 match came behind closed doors, this Saturday will see a raucous, sold-out home crowd.
Tonda Eckert’s rejuvenated Championship side will need to display that kind of defensive resilience to weather Arsenal’s current attacking storm.
As we preview Saturday’s Quarter-Final, the storylines are perfectly curtailed.
14-time FA Cup winners Arsenal with the likes of Martin Ødegaard, Bukayo Saka, and the impending signing of Viktor Gyökeres boast terrifying firepower and are the firm favourites to ease themselves into the semi-finals at Wembley.
However, Southampton’s current cup run has already seen them defy the knockout odds to claim the Premier League scalp of Fulham.
James Ward-Prowse on the ball in 2021. (Image: Echo)
They have nothing to lose and a semi-final spot to gain.
If recent FA Cup history has taught us anything about Southampton versus Arsenal, it’s that the Gunners can never take the Saints lightly.